The aim of this book is to teach children to read and write through an early systematic phonics programme. This means that the children are taught the main 42 sounds of English, not just the alphabet sounds. With this knowledge they are taken through stages of blending sounds to form words and then to reading.

At the same time they are taught to write by identifying the sounds in words and relating the letters to those sounds.

This handbook provides a programme for the first year of learning to read and write, the first 8-9 weeks of which should be spent learning the letter sounds. That is one letter sound a day.

It is multi-sensory, active and particularly suitable for young children.

Step-by-step guidance is given for the teacher, with photocopiable worksheets for the children.

The structured approach is suited to a whole school, whole class approach, but it also works well with individual children.

A timetable of the initial 9/10 week programme is on the facing page.

The teaching has been divided into the following 5 basic skills, each of which has its own chapter: learning the letter sounds; learning letter formation; blending - for reading; identifying the sounds in words - for writing; and tricky words - irregular words. Although the teaching has been separated into these basic skills, it is important to realize that they are all taught at the same time. The key advantages of this system are that it teaches children all the main letter sounds early on and to relate the sounds to the symbols and so understand the alphabetic code used for reading and writing.